Evening Star Newspaper, May 21, 1937, Page 6

A—6 = SLAUGHTERHOUSE T rora POLLLTIN CTED Sanitary Engineer, Surprise Witness, Sees Sewage Faciiities Taxed. BACKGROUND— Since last Fall fight has waged over desire of meat-packing firm to build new slaughter house in Ben- ning section. Refused once, permit was granted when company revised plans. King-Norton bill, retro- active in its provisions, would block by stringent regulation such indus- tries in Nation’s Capital. Expert testimony from a Public Health Service engineer showing that drainage from proposed Gobel slaugh- ter house operations in Benning would prove & serious pollution menace and over-load the city’s costly new sewage disposal plant by adding waste equiva- lent to a domestic population of 140,- 000 persons was spread upon the rec- ords of the Senate District subcom- mittee late yesterday. The testimony given by Ralph E. Tarbett, senior sanitary engineer, was a surprise sprung by C. Marshall Fin- nan, superintendent of the Office of National Capital Parks. It followed a general assault on nuisance opfl’almnsi and the Gobel plant in particular by Chairman Frederic A. Delano and two | other members of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Tarbett's damaging statements re- mained unrefuted as the subcommittee recessed its hearing ‘‘until notice.” A recess was necessary to en- able Chairman McCarran, Demo- crat, of Nevada, to help prepare the adverse report from the Senate Judi- clary Committee on the President's Bupreme Court reorganization bill. Based on 3,152 Animals Daily. The Public Health Service ex.rt based his statements on the results of an investigation he made of the Gobel plens, if run to their maximum ca- pacity of 3152 animals slaughtered per dav. The only refutation that D. Edward Clarke, attorney for the pack- ing house, sought to make was a claim that the plant would not be expected | to run at full capacity. The District's $4.125.000 disposal plant, now mearing pletion, Tarbett said, will sewage com- 650,000 people. The addition of an equivalent load of 140,000 people, the expert testified, “would take up the full capacity of the sewage plant and would require more in time.” Finnan sougnt to elicit from the witness the extra cost per capita to the taxpayers of the District from the additional load on the sewer plant from the supposed drainage. The per capita cost was never definitely stated by the witness, although Fin- nan pointed out The year was given by Tarbett as $216,000. He indicated that the cost for han- dling the additional burden from slaughtering operations would be a large percentage. Commissioner Sultan Attends. Col. Dan I. Sulton, District Engineer Commissioner, who has charge of the sewage plant, was an interested but silent attendant st the hearing. The room was packed with a large and 8t times impatient crowd of specta- tors. Tarbett followed J. C. Nichols of Kansas City and Henry V. Hubbard of Boston, members of the National Capital Park and Planning Commis- sion, who had stoutly defended the | King bill designed to protect Wash- ington from the threat of nuisance industries. At one time Senator Austin of Vermont suggested “perfect- | ig” amendments which Nichols and Corporation Counsel Elwood H. Seal said would have the effect of extract- | ing “teeth” from the bill. i Testimony bearing on pollution of the Potomac and other streams from animal waste was given by Tarbett in Pis discussion of the effects that might be expected from a slaughter house in the Benning area. “¥t would be impossible to keep pol- Iption from Piney Run, especially in $he Summer,* he ‘said. Piney Run, be explained, afforded & natural grainage basin for waste from the Unlon Stockyards and cattle cars in he freight yards, as well as for the proposed packing plant. Sees Pollution as Certain. “According to the records, the max- fmum capacity of the plant would be | 8.800 animals killed per day,” he said. “Making certain allowances, we esti- mated 3,152 animals to be killed each day. That number of animals around | & stockyards and the freight yards would make it practically impossible to keep pollution from Piney Run.” The effect probably would not be so great on the Anacostia River, Tarbett testified, but the general pollution dumped into the Potomac River through the sewage plant would be a serious matter, He pointed out that for each animal Kkilled, there would be & water usage ranging from 500 to 600 gallons. The present sewage plant as con- structed would give only one-third purification to the waste it treated, Tarbett explained. Furthermore, the primary plant would remove only about 50 per cent of the solids, he added. This in itself presented a prob- lem, it was developed. Tarbett explained that the operat- Ing capacity cf the sewage plant was 80,000,000 gallons per day. He and Finnan tried to estimate from the number of animals killed per day the amount of water which it would be necessary to obtain for operations. ‘Water Rent Cited. Clarke attempted to interrogate the ‘Wwitness about this. “You know the Gobel Co. will have to pay water rent for all the water used,” he said. *Don't you know there is a complete _—n In Philadelphia it’s the BELLEVUE. STRATFORD MODERATELY PRICED CENTRALLY SITUATED “Best food in Philsdelphia™ Claude H.Bennett, Manager further | have s; :apacity to handle a population of it was a simple | matter of mathematical computation. | estimated cost of operating | the sewage disposal plant next fiscal | RIDAY, Ford and at Dearborn yesterday for the he started during his earlier vi. mitted to burn out since. Former President Herbert Hoover was a guest of Henry Ford first time since 1929. Hoover is shown placing a log on a fire in the “Lincoln Court House,” which sit. The fire has not baen per- —Copyright, A. P. Wirephoto. water plant? The attorney furthermore asked Tarbett if he knew of any plant that ever ran to its full capacity. At this point, Chairman McCarran expressed the opinion that the com- mittee would like to visit a thoroughly modern “abattoir” near Washington. When informed that Albany, Ga., presented possibly the nearest loca- tion, he replied, “We can't go there tonight.” It was suggested that the Gobel plant in New York GCjty might be visited by the committee. ‘There was further questioning about the cost of operating the sewage dis- posal plant, which Finanan explained was not a wholly Federal grant of funds but for which the District supply to take care of the Public Works Administration. When the hearing is resumed, pos- sibly early next week, it is the inten- tion of the Gobel to “spread its books on the record,” according to its attorney. Corpcration Counsel Seal had asked pertinently into the amount. of actual cash or stock paid by the company for the Benning property, for which it claims $1,400,000. Seal also mentioned “other considerations” that might enter into the price. Clarke replied the cost was a “matter of record” but Senator Mc- Carran said if that were 5o, the state- reputed cost of $1.400,000- Seal at other times pointed to an assessed valuation of $70,776 placed on Benning pioperty by the Distr Delegated earlier in the day to at- tend the hearing, Chairman Delano of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission had been pre- vented by illness from appearing earlier. He had several tilts with Attorney Clarke, but refused to hedge in his general “cohdemnation of slaughter house operations and the effeot of the bill to safeguard proper development of - the city. Delano said he thought it would be “a very unfortunate thing” for a slaughter house to be built here and that it must be considered in con- nection with oattle and stockyards. While aware of new modern methods, which he admitted have “mitigated” would nevertheless be impossible to avoid “disagreeable smells” from penned animals. Warns of Public Remedy. The public has a ‘remedy” public nuisances, he warned “The slaughter house people think we have done them an Delano added. “We are really doing them a kindness by warning them in advance.” Senator McCarran asked in event the Benning plant should perhaps be- come a “public nuisance” if the District would have police power to close it. He said he was wondering if the ocommittee should warn the Gobel Co., as the bill warns in effect, “even if they take the harard.” Delano said he believed any au- thority given the company to build now would be a “pretty good answer” to the company to go ahead and pos- sibly become a nuisance. He said the National Capital Park and Planning Commission was now trying to develop improvements in the northeast and southeast districts as a balance against park improve- ments in the northwest area. A pack- ing plant at Benning, he indicated, would interfere with those develop- ments. Here, Clarke interposed to say that the proposed Benning plant was ‘“not going to operate on & scale larger than heretofore.” “We haven't asked for an enlarge- ment of the plant,” he said. “We are actually going to do less business.” If that were the case, Delano in- dicated, it would have possibly less effect on conditions. Asked if the commission could use the Gobel property for any other purpose than a slaughter house, the chairman replied, “Oh, yes, for a good warehouse or something similar.” Delano said he was not technically familiar with the bill as a lawyer but believed it would be sufficient to pro- tect Washington from encroachments of nuisance industries. Following him as a witness, Nichols, Kansas City planner and member of the Park and Planning Commission, told the committee he was also vice for Colonial Village 1830 Plymouth St. - N.W. Turn left at 16th and Kalmia Rd. Open for inspection 11 AM. until dark. A modified reproduction of Pem- berton Hall. A home with a per- sonality in o beautiful setting of matured trees and shrubbery. Liv- ing room, dining room, reception hall, lavatory, breakfast room, kitchen on main floor. 2-car garage; 4 bed rooms, 2 baths, maid’s room and separate bath on 2d floor. Gas heat and electric refrigeration. House fully insu- lated. Priced ot $23,000, which is 20% under its cost 5 yeors ago. A well-seasoned house in perfect paid 70 per cent of the cost to the | the | odors to a large extent, he said it injustice,” | president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. | “What weTe trying to do in this bill is for the welfare of the city,” he said emphatically. He said he lives within four miles of the Kansas City stockyards and said the smell to windward was “very offensive.” Deterioration of property values in stockyard areas, Nichols sald, was & matter of concern in city develop- ment. Senator McCarran interrupted sev- eral times to discuss the committtee's problem in connection witl the legis- lation. He said it was a question ap- parently of “keeping out of Wash- ington” all forms of so-called unde- sirable industries, or “opening the door” and permitting them to come in under certain circumstances. The development of the Anacostia area was desirable for Washington, Nichols replied. “I would look with laughter house but on any other types of nuisance industries set up in the Anacostia Valley,” he said. *“It would Vi harmful to our plans for im- provements." Sees Widespread Injury. Injury would result, he added, for and pleaded with the committee that it was a matter which should be given serious consideration. “There are limits beyond which we should not go,” he warned, “without producing adverse effects on the rest of the city.” John Riggles of Prince Georges Delano if the five sewers in the county dumping waste into the Anacostia | were as “objectionable as an abat- | toir” The commission chairman re= plied that his group is now co-operat- ing with tne Maryland Park and Plan- ning Commission to remedy that con- | dition. | Nichols later was questioned about | | the need of amending the bill to pro- | tect certdin industries which are “holding” land with a view to future operations. He was opposed to amend= ments to meet this condition. “There are times when the public welfare is more important than indi- vidual sacrifice,” he insisted. He be- lieved the amendments would take away the effectiveness of the King bill and so-informed Senator Austin. Sees Residential Spread Eastward. Nichols several times told the com- mittee there was opportunity for greater residential development east- ward in the city. He said he was not taking the position that there should not be any industry in Washington | but explained that the bill gives the Zoning Commission power to weigh all the factors and decide what is best for the city as a whole. He said he was thinking mainly | of future growth rather than of have ing people move to the eastern section from the Northwest. A. D. Calvert asked the planning commission member if he thought some one from “Kansas City, or else- Where, should tell us where we ought to live,” or control in a movement of that kind. Nichols answered by asserting he did not say the commission should try to tell people where to live. By long- time planning, he said, the commis- | sion hoped to encourage future | development. Senator Austin interjected to say that he assumed that if the abattoir | were not directly affected, the “ideal- |ism” of the pending legislation would | be recognized by everybody. “In other | words, if we were starting out, these | regulations would be sound and in the | public interest,” he added. “But now, | taking the testimony most favorable |to the Gobel Co. and to the stock- yards, there is property that has been used for those purposes in the past.” The situation, he remarked, was like the trial of a nuisance case by Congress. Condemnation Issue Raised. Senator Austin said that a previous witness had suggested the Govern- ment could take over the Benning site by condemnation and add it to housing develcpments in the vicinity. Admitting a lack of knowledge of the housing authority’s needs to com- ment on the suggestion, Nichols re- peated that with proper restrictive measures “this land could be used NAt. 7601 psmell very badly.” fear not only on the erection of this | County earlier in the hearing asked | residentially,” or for “warehouse pur- Senator McCarran interrupted at one point to suggest that those in- terested in the bill “would make & more careful study of the measure along the line of justice.” William J.. Neale, president of the Union Stock Yards, inquired why the commission did not negotiate with the abattoir and yards before start- ing nearby improvement plans. Nichols sald he did not recall any studies that indicated “it was to the greater service of that community to buy it,” at the time. He pointed out the park improve- ments in that area were started a long time ago as reclamation work along the Anacostia River. At another point, Nichols said there was a tendency to think too much of the bill's effect on the Benning situation rather than its general aspects and described it as very important to the development of the Nation’s Capital. The third member of the Park and Planning Commission, Hubbard of Boston, pointed out that public welfare in many other cities is recog- nized in new zoning legislation and defended proposed restrictive legisla- tion for Washington. At Benning, he suggested, there was an opportunity for city planning. Hubbard told the Gobel attorney he had been near enough stock yards in the Boston area to realize “they “Two days ago I stood within 200 feet of the Brigh- ton yards and that was near enough,” he said. Corporation Counsel Seal objected to a series of hypothetical questions asked the witness, dealing with the effect of the bill in “outlawing” the Gobel plant even if the congressional committee favored its erection The witness gave his opinion that the bill would not actually prohibit the erection of an existing slaughter house since it provided for the appli- cation for a permit from the city authorities. Clarke put the same question in half a dozen different ways but Hubbard did not change his line of reasoning. Senator McCarran then began to insist that Seal had testified the bill was aimed “directly at the Gobel Co.” Seal Protests Quotation. The corporation counsel corrected this statement. “What I said was that it was aimed at all nuisance indus- tries,” he protested, “but I did say that if the bill was enacted it would have the effect of prohibiting erection of the Gobel plant.” Again during questioning of Hub- | bard the committee chairman said he | could see no interpretation of the bill other than that it would prohibit the : “I have always said the company could not erect, alter or operate if this bill goes through. But I didn't say it was aimed solely at the Gobel Co.” Questioned about zoning restrictions against slaughter houses in other cities, Hubbard replied he “believed” there were such restrictions in force in Baltimore and Lynchburg. Pitts- burgh, he said, new plants of this kind. A man in the back of the room, who said his name was Pearson, shouted that he lived in Baltimore and slaughter houses were not banned there X Landowners Protests Bill. Mrs. Edgar Duval, who owns 18 acres of land near the P. W. /. hous- | ing project in Benning, testified in opposition to the King bill, “We are very much in favor of building the abattoir,” she said. *You completely prohibits | GOBEL CO. SEWAGE 10 GOST $64.80 Finnan Points to Figures Showing Employment Gains Offset. Government officials said today that the estimated sewage from the pro- posed Gobel slaughter house and ac- companying stock yard operations in Benning, amounting to some 30 per cent of the total capacity of the new sewage-disposal plant, would cost Dis- trict of Columbia taxpayers approxie mately $64,800 annually to handle. The District of Columbia budget for the 1938 fiscal year, it was testi- fied at the hearing before the Senate District Subcommittee yesterday, re- quests $216,000 for the operation of the sewage-disposal plant. An analysis of testimony given by Ralph E. Tarbett, senior sanitary en- gineer of the United States Public Health Service, was given by C. Mar- shall Pinnan, superintendent of the Office of National Capital Parks. $4,125,000 Plant, The District of Columbia built the new sewage plant at a cost of $4,125,000 to meet the needs of a population of 650,000 people, he sald, and the in- vestment represents a per capita cost of $6.34, Finnan tried to show at the hearing that the Gobel plant and stock yards would discharge waste into the sew- age plant equivalent to organic mat- ter of & population of 140,000 humans, Therefore, he pointed out today, the Gobel plant on the basis of $6.34 per capita cost of investment would have the equivalent use of $887,600, which represents the proportionate investment cost of handling sewage from the slaughtering plant. Based on Capacity of Plant. Estimates used by the Public Health Service engineer at the hearing were based on the maximum capacity of the Gobel plans approved by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture. ‘The maximum slaughtering of animals was given as 3,152 animals per day. While the Gobel interests make much of the point that additional employment will be provided here by the construction of its plant, Fin- nan said, the cost to District tax- payers of treating the sewage created by the slaughter house operations will more than offset the assets. can't say that is an area of cheap rents. Houses there always rent for $50." Another witness wWas Mrs. Prederick H. Brooke. She contended taxes and employment would be fac- tors that should be given consider: tion. The old plant on the site, Mrs. Brooke said, formerly gave needed employment and believed many per- sons would find work if it reopened. If the site could not be used as a new slaughter house, she suggested erection of a warehouse as a remedy. CANCELLED > N H Excursion to Boston g ovigence originally schedu'ed for SATURDAY, MAY 22 PENNSYLVANIR RRILROAD NEW TABLE MODEL Beautiful modern cabinet, choice of ivory or black finish. Enjoy perfect reception. rent. AC or DC cur- NO INTEREST OR CARRYING CHARGES, REGULAR STANDARD PRICE, $14.95. Just Pay 50c a Week or $2.00 a Month 14.95 | : MAY 21, 1937 Senator Connally of Texas, stanch foe of the President’s Supreme Court reorganization plan, pictured with his son Ben, whom he will present for admission to the bar of the high Young Connally is a Houston attorney. —A. P. Photo. tribunal Monday. RICE IS ACQUITTED' - INCONTEMPT CASE Charges Still Pending Against Five Other Rail- way Auait Officials. With contempt cherges still pend- ing against five other officials of Railway Audit & Inspection Co,, John J. Abt, counsel for the Senate Civil Liberties Committee, and Crampton Harris, special Government prosecutor, were to confer today on their action in view of acquittal of one officer of the company yesterday. The acquittal was voted by & District Court jury in 45 minutes of deliberation of evidence brought . against L. Douglas Rice, vice presie dent and general manager of Rail« way Audit, on charges that he fully failed to appear before the €on mittee in answer to a subpoena &nd likewise failed to produce records of his company. Similar charges are pending against . the other five officials, all of them having been indicted together. With the subpoenas still technically in effect against the company officials, | it is possible that the committee will | move for dissolution of the show cause | order now restraining them from test:« | fy1 and seek to press the investiga- |tion. The contempt action has ro direct bearing on the contested valid- ity of the subpoenas, an issue of the MASTER T0 BE ASKED | IN GREEN LITIGATION Texas Attorney General Indicates | Supreme Court Will Act Soon on Motion. By the Associated Press. Attorney General William McCraw of Texas said yesterday he would ask the Supreme Court Monday for the appointment of a special master in the litigation involving the estate of the late Col. E. H. R. Green. McCraw, who arrived here by plane Wednesday with his assistant, Llew- elyn Duke, conferred with Chief Jus- tice Hughes yesterday. He indicated that the court would give the motion for a master immediate consideration. The sppointment of a master, McCraw said, would end a long drawn out court battle by Texas, New York, Massachusetts and Florida, all of which seek to levy inheritance taxes on the $57,000,000 estate of the rail- road magnate. The question where the dead man legally resided is involved in the lit- igation. The master's function would CHARGE IT ’be to hear evidence and present a | report to the court in an effort to settle the controversy. show cause action Principal occupation Audit is alleged o be espionage of Railway t of industrial Adam A. Weschler & Son, Auctioneers. FINE OIL PAINTINGS the Collection of J. VINCENT GOULD By Public Auction AT WESCHLER'S—915 E ST. N.W. Monday, May 24, 1937 2'P.M. and 8 P.M. Among the artists represented are: Corot, Inness, Daubigny, Keith, Perrault. Blakelot, A. H. Wyant, Carlton, Wiggins, Boungiorno, William Hart and others of note. SPECIAL EXHIBITION SUNDAY, May 23rd, 9 AM. to 5 PM. MONDAY, May 24th, 9 A.M. to 12 Noon TERMS: CASH. 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